• W3C and their cloudy crystal ball

  XHTML 2 Working Group Expected to Stop Work End of 2009, W3C to Increase Resources on HTML 5

  So, W3C effectively kills XHTML 2. In the interim will it be easier to code to HTML 4 strict and then convert to HTML 5, or just continue coding in XHTML. Sort of an important question when you're advising 100's of web producers managing hundreds of thousands of pages. Especially when your advice 5 years ago was to change from HTML 4 to XHTML transitional. Oops.

• Michael Chabon: The Wilderness of Childhood

  Manhood for Amateurs: The Wilderness of Childhood - The New York Review of Books: "The sandlots and creek beds, the alleys and woodlands have been abandoned in favor of a system of reservations—Chuck E. Cheese, the Jungle, the Discovery Zone: jolly internment centers mapped and planned by adults with no blank spots aside from doors marked staff only. When children roller-skate or ride their bikes, they go forth armored as for battle, and their parents typically stand nearby."

• Information is a task :: Gerry McGovern

  This attitude has driven so many government websites to the point of uselessness. The Freedom of Information Act definitely has good intentions. An unintended consequence, however, is that stuff that serves no useful function, is never maintained, never reviewed and never deleted gets published in large quantities. But it’s there, this information, because it’s important to have lots and lots of information.

  Read the whole post.

• Words & Music

  My favorite albums since I can remember hearing an album in its entirety. My rules:

  • no greatest hits;
  • no wishful thinking (no, I wasn't ready for The Stooges or The Velvet Underground when I was 9);
  • as little bias toward what I wish were my favorite for a given year as possible;
  • no leaving out an album because I've already listed the artist.

  I've left out some very good stuff (Television's Marquee Moon and The Clash, both from 1977, being the prime examples), but I can play most of these from track one to the end in my head. I'm pretty sure I've left out some very bad stuff as well.

  Year	Album	Artist
  1965	Rubber Soul	The Beatles
  1966	Blonde on Blonde	Bob Dylan
  1967	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	The Beatles
  1968	The Beatles (White Album)	The Beatles
  1969	Tommy	The Who
  1970	After the Goldrush	Neil Young
  1971	Sticky Fingers	Rolling Stones
  1972	Exile on Main Street	Rolling Stones
  1973	For Your Pleasure	Roxy Music
  1974	Rock 'n' Roll Animal	Lou Reed
  1975	Born to Run	Bruce Springsteen
  1976	Howlin' Wind	Graham Parker & the Rumour
  1977	Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols	Sex Pistols
  1978	This Year's Model	Elvis Costello and the Attractions
  1979	London Calling	The Clash
  1980	A Different Kind of Tension	The Buzzcocks
  1981	Wild Gift	X
  1982	Shoot Out the Lights	Richard and Linda Thompson
  1983	Murmur	REM
  1984	Let it Be	The Replacements
  1985	Rain Dogs	Tom Waits
  1986	King of America	Elvis Costello
  1987	Bring the Family	John Hiatt
  1988	Surfer Rosa	The Pixies
  1989	Oh Mercy	Bob Dylan
  1990	Songs for Drella	Lou Reed and John Cale
  1991	Girlfriend	Matthew Sweet
  1992	Hollywood Town Hall	The Jayhawks
  1993	World Gone Wrong	Bob Dylan
  1994	Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain	Pavement
  1995	Grand Prix	Teenage Fanclub
  1996	Odelay	Beck
  1997	OK Computer	Radiohead
  1998	A Thousand Leaves	Sonic Youth
  1999	The Soft Bulletin	Flaming Lips
  2000	Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea	PJ Harvey
  2001	White Blood Cells	The White Stripes
  2002	Yankee Hotel Foxtrot	Wilco
  2003	Youth and Young Manhood	Kings of Leon
  2004	Funeral	The Arcade Fire
  2005	Illinoise	Sufjan Stevens
  2006	The Greatest	Cat Power
  2007	In Rainbows	Radiohead

• First Rule of Usability? Don't Listen to Users

  An oldie, but still (and forever) relevant. Don't ask your visitors what they think; watch what they do.

• Zeldman: The profession that dare not speak its name

  The profession that dare not speak its name. An attempt to understand how the profession of web producers, designers and developers fits into the rest of the communication infrastructure (pretty poorly.) Long overdue.

• Compose to a vertical rhythm

  Bringing some typographic sophistication to the web.

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